Notes

Meeting 1

• Random Events
  • BRITE? Event downtown: Opportunity to pitch things
• Should I start this company?
  • Stakeholders?
  • Product Market Fit (Find segments?)
    • Customers: Who are they... Every tiny little detail of people who might be interested
      • Testable Hypotheses
    • Find Business Models. Pay attention to what competitors are doing.
• Next Steps: National prog, SBIR, Other local programs
• Positioning:
  • Integration into existing tool (product)
  • vs standalone system
• Questions to ask
  • Freedom to Operate
    • Do you have the freedom to operate without running into licensing issues
  • Manufacturing requirements
  • Product requirements (by market segment)
    • Performance
    • Price
    • Appearance
    • How do customers learn about the product?
    • Seasonality (does demand shift regularly over time)?
    • Regulatory Approvals
    • What do people have now that solves this problem?
      • Are they happy with their current product?
  • Other per-market factors that are important
    • Market size -- vs
    • Customer acquisition cost
    • Profit margin
    • Sales channels
    • What is the competition doing
    • Repeat orders/follow-on sales: Once you have a customer, do they continue paying you?
    • Who's the big customer in the space? Can you convince a big fish to use your product?
    • Per-market regulations?
  • Sustainable cometitive advantages -- Secret sauce -- What's to stop others from copying you
    • Intellectual Property / Patents
    • Specific knowledge ()
    • Privileged access to markets (someone you know)
    • Brand identity (not really)
    • Speed: Resources (financing, manufacturing) that make it easier to get to market faster
    • Special knowledge: What's the one thing that no one else seems to "get" about the market
    • First (or second) mover advantage.